Amazing & Extraordinary London Underground Facts, by Stephen Halliday
Posted: Monday 5 August 2013 by Unknown in Labels: city, facts, Fundraiser, funny, history, london, Readathon, stephen halliday, tube, UEL English PEN, underground, world wars
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I picked up this
book during my first ever visit to the British Library in London, a while back
now, with the excitement and pace of a kid in a sweet shop. This was mainly because I am
and always have been fascinated by large scale city transport networks – especially
that of London, my hometown and favourite city – but also partially because it
was right next to the till and the door, and I was desperate for the loo.
I began to read
it – pleasingly – on the tube on the way home, and was soon oohing and aahing,
much to the interested looks of my fellow commuters. It fell into the
ever-growing pile of half-finished books soon after, and a few weeks ago I
picked it up again for this readathon. It is the sort of book you can dip into
at will, an easy but very interesting read.
I learned that
during WWII, the Central line was used in places for the construction of
Churchill tanks, Spitfires, and Lancaster & Halifax bombers, as well as
stuff I already knew such as which station has the deepest lift shaft, which
has the longest escalator, which lines are the fastest or longest or busiest, and
which ones were closed down and still lay dormant and dark under the bustling
streets we know today. I also learned, interestingly enough for a person who
has spent years studying the map trying to memorise interchanges and terminuses,
that the Jubilee line is the only London line that at some point or another,
connects up with every other London Underground line.
The book is a
rich tapestry of not just the history of the tube, but of London socially and
economically also, commenting on certain rituals and habits of daily and occasional
commuters, on delays, annoyances and poetry on the walls, and of the camaraderie
of the city’s population when using the station platforms and tracks as bomb
shelters during the world wars. During these times, it says, people established
entire communities under the streets – with libraries, films, music, and
theatre productions. They even installed three tier beds in some stations to
cope with the sheer thousands of citizens seeking refuge.
In the interests
of equal rights and progressive politics, it must also be said that Maida Vale
station was the first in London to be run solely by women, who also
successfully managed to secure pay equal to that of their male counterparts – a
full half a century before the Equal Pay Act. Go girls.
Perhaps the part
that made me laugh the most is when disused, or ‘ghost’ stations, are
discussed, and it touches on North End station near Hampstead. This station was
never opened, but Churchill secretly assigned it for use as a citadel for the
War Cabinet, with telecommunications and sleeping quarters. One day in 1940, a
man on Home Guard sentry duty was stood near to the hidden entrance and is
quoted as having said; “Mr Churchill just popped out of the ground at my feet.”
I’d definitely
recommend reading this to anyone who loves London and transport, it’s
fact-checked and very funny too, with some amusing insights into the rich
history of one of London's proudest achievements.
Peace and love,
Sam